Creating A Communication Channel Between User Devices And Local Stores

ABSTRACT

A user-to-entity communication channel is established for providing increased information regarding entities to the general population. Ambassadors for a entity are identified and selected based on location history of devices for which location reporting is authorized. The ambassadors may provide information regarding the entity to the public through the communication channel. Communications between the users and ambassadors may be reported to the entity owner for analysis by the entity owner.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/500,237, filed on Oct. 2, 2019, which application is anational phase entry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International ApplicationNo. PCT/US2018/045542, filed Aug. 7, 2018, all of which are herebyincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

If a person is looking for a product or local service, they typicallystart by looking for it online, such as by entering a search in a searchengine. However, some local stores or other entities do not havewebsites, or their websites may not contain the information being soughtby the person. Currently, the person would need to identify a entitypotentially providing the product or service, find contact informationfor the entity, call the entity, and hope someone is available at theentity to answer the person's question. In many instances, the personwould need to repeat the entire process for a second entity, such as ifthe first entity did not have what the person sought, or if the personwanted to compare products or services available at multiple entities.This is time consuming and inconvenient.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present disclosure can provide a user-to-entity communicationchannel for providing increased information regarding entities to thegeneral population. Ambassadors for an entity can be identified andselected based on location history of devices for which locationreporting is authorized. The ambassadors may provide informationregarding the entity to the public through the communication channel,thereby providing prompt responses to user requests, such as responseswhich may not be otherwise available through searching or other means.For example, the ambassadors may provide information for entities thatdo not have a website.

One aspect of the disclosure provides a method for establishingcommunication between entities and individuals, the method comprisingreceiving, with one or more processors, location information from aplurality of mobile computing devices, wherein each of the mobilecomputing devices have been set to authorize reporting of the locationinformation, identifying, with the one or more processors based on thereceived location information, one or more individuals corresponding toa particular entity, selecting the one or more individuals to serve asan ambassador for the particular entity, the ambassador being authorizedby an owner of the particular entity to communicate informationregarding the entity, and establishing a communication channel betweenthe ambassador and a plurality of users, wherein the ambassador providesinformation regarding the particular entity to one or more of theplurality of users through the communication channel.

In some examples, the method may further include verifying theambassador, the verifying including obtaining confirmation from an ownerof the particular entity. Further, requests received from the pluralityof users through the communication channel may be filtered, such as bykeyword filtering, and the filtered requests may be directed only toverified ambassadors. In some examples, the information provided by theambassador devices over the communication channel may be automaticallydetected by the ambassador devices.

Identifying the one or more individuals may include determining at leastone of which devices spend a predetermined amount of time at a locationcorresponding to the particular entity, or which devices visited thelocation corresponding to the particular entity a predetermined numberof times. The ambassadors may be non-employees of the particular entity.An owner of the particular entity may have access to the communicationchannel, and may be able to correct information provided over thecommunication channel before or after such information reaches the user.A report may be generated based on information sent over thecommunication channel, the report providing an indication as to requestsreceived through the communication channel, responses provided by theambassador, and whether the responses resulted in a visit to theparticular entity.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a system for establishingcommunication between entities and individuals. The system includes atleast one memory and one or more processors in communication with the atleast one memory. The one or more processors are configured to receivelocation information from a plurality of mobile computing devices,wherein each of the mobile computing devices have been set to authorizereporting of the location information, identify, based on the receivedlocation information, one or more individuals corresponding to aparticular entity, select one or more of the identified individuals toserve as an ambassador for the particular entity, the ambassador beingauthorized by an owner of the particular entity to communicateinformation regarding the entity, establish a communication channelbetween the ambassador and a plurality of users, wherein the ambassadorprovides information regarding the particular entity to one or more ofthe plurality of users through the communication channel.

Yet another aspect of the disclosure provides a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing instructions executable by one or moreprocessors to perform a method for establishing communication betweenentities and individuals. Such method may include receiving locationinformation from a plurality of mobile computing devices, wherein eachof the mobile computing devices have been set to authorize reporting ofthe location information, identifying, based on the received locationinformation, one or more individuals corresponding to a particularentity, selecting the one or more individuals to serve as an ambassadorfor the particular entity, the ambassador being authorized by an ownerof the particular entity to communicate information regarding theentity, and establishing a communication channel between the ambassadorand a plurality of users, wherein the ambassador provides informationregarding the particular entity to one or more of the plurality of usersthrough the communication channel.

A yet further aspect of the disclosure provides a computer-implementedmethod for communicating information about an entity, the methodcomprising: receiving a request for information relating to the entityfrom a client device; receiving location information from a plurality ofmobile communication devices, wherein each of the mobile computingdevices have been set to authorize reporting of location information;identifying, based on the received location information, one or moremobile communication devices in proximity to the entity; andestablishing a communication channel between the client device and atleast one of the identified one or more mobile communication devices,such at least one of the identified one or more mobile communicationdevices may transmit the information to the client device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a pictorial diagram of an example system according to aspectsof the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating further details of components ofthe example system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of selecting ambassador devices accordingto aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of verifying an ambassador deviceaccording to aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example communication between ambassador devicesand a publicly available information page according to aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example communication between a user device andambassador devices for a particular entity according to aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method according toaspects of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Overview

The present disclosure relates generally to providing increasedinformation regarding entities to the general population. These entitiesmay for example be businesses, and in particular may be entitiesassociated with a geographical location. Ambassadors for an entity areidentified and selected based on location history. The ambassadors mayprovide information regarding the entity to the public, for example,through a user-to-entity communication channel. Communications betweenthe users and ambassadors may be reported for analysis by the entityowner.

The ambassadors may be identified through analysis of location historyreports. For example, users of mobile devices may authorize locationreporting. For a particular entity, users that have reported locationsthat correspond to the particular entity may be identified. For example,the reported locations may indicate that a particular user spends apredetermined about of time per day, week, month, etc. at the entitylocation, or that the user has visited the entity location apredetermined number of times within a time period. In this regard,individuals that are not necessarily employees of the entity may beidentified, thus expanding the pool of potential information sources.Additionally or alternatively, the current location of a potentialambassador may be assessed in light of the location report from a mobiledevice. Such information may be useful in determining the currentconditions at the entity location, such as current network orenvironmental (e.g. temperature, light etc.) conditions.

Ambassadors may be verified or unverified. “Verified ambassadors mayinclude, for example, users having an affinity with the entity, such asusers that have been approved by the entity owner as having particularstatus or authority. Such verified ambassadors may have a higher levelof authority, as compared to unverified ambassadors, to performarticulated tasks that will not require extra verification by the entityowner. For example, the verified ambassadors may respond to questionsregarding product availability. Unverified ambassadors may include, forexample, users with knowledge regarding the entity but a lower level ofaffinity than the verified ambassadors. The unverified ambassadors maybe authorized to perform some types of tasks, but not others. Forexample, the unverified ambassadors may be authorized to respond toquestions regarding hours of operation of the entity, but not productavailability. Some or all of the actions of the unverified ambassadormay require review by the entity owner or by the verified ambassador,where such review may be performed individually for each request or inbulk.

Some requests may be filtered to the verified ambassadors, while otherrequests are sent to both verified and unverified ambassadors or only tounverified ambassadors. By way of example only, a user calling to get aproduct reserved for later pickup may be filtered to one or moreverified ambassadors, while a request regarding what time a entity opensmay be sent to everyone. Such filtering may be performed based on, forexample, keywords, identifiers embedded in the requests (e.g., selectionof a category by the user submitting the request determines where therequest is sent), or by any of a variety of other criteria.

An individual entity may have any number of ambassadors, where theambassadors are verified, unverified, or some combination thereof. Insome examples, requests may be sent to all ambassadors, and onlyambassadors with appropriate authority can respond. In other examples,requests may be sent to only one or some of the verified or unverifiedambassadors, and may be sent to additional ambassadors if a response isnot received within a predetermined amount of time. In some examples,ambassadors may be compensated for their efforts in providinginformation to the public.

Users may communicate with the ambassadors through any of a variety ofcommunication channels. For example, a dedicated chat channel may beprovided through an application, such as a maps application, a shoppingapplication, a search application, etc. Requests received through thecommunication channel may include any of a variety of types of requests,such as questions seeking information about the particular entity oritems available at the particular entity, requests to hold a particularitem in stock at the particular entity, requests to reserve a table ifthe entity is a restaurant, etc.

In some examples, the information provided by the ambassadors may beautomatically provided by the ambassadors' devices. For example, arequest received through the communication channel may ask aboutavailability of wireless network access at a particular location.Devices of ambassadors that are currently or were previously at thelocation may, in response, report signal strength of available wirelessnetworks at the particular location. Such automated responses may beprovided for any information detectable by devices of the ambassadors,such as weather, connectivity, noise levels, busyness levels, lighting,etc.

In some examples, the communication channel may be accessed by a searchengine. For example, if a user asks an ambassador whether a particularproduct is in stock at a particular entity, the search engine may usethe answer to provide such information in response to future searchrequests. Business owners may also access the communication channel fortheir particular entity, for example, to oversee and correct theinformation being provided about the entity. The entity owner may alwayshave visibility into the activity of an ambassador, some of which mightlead to contributions to static content that can be edited a-posterioriby the owner. For example, if an ambassador provides inventory data bytaking photos of products at the store, that data may flow to aninventory management tool that the entity owner can use to both reviewand edit the data. For other types of ambassador contributions, such asquestion and answer types contributions, the entity owner may review theanswers individually or in bulk, either prior to or after transmissionto the requesting user. The entity owner may provide guidance to theambassadors regarding how to respond to requests.

In some examples, reports of the communications between users andambassadors may also be provided to entity owners. The entity owner mayuse this information to better understand the type of offline support toimplement. For example, if users are frequently asking the hours ofoperation for the entity, the entity owner may make this informationavailable on its website. The reports may further indicate to the entityowner how the ambassador activity translated to traffic at the entity,such as customers at the physical location of the entity, onlinepurchases, etc.

By identifying entity ambassadors and setting up a communicationchannel, users may be able to readily receive answers to questionswithout a significant amount of searching. Moreover, entities canimprove the services provided to customers by improving the sharing ofinformation. Even entities without websites may provide current,accurate information to the users through the ambassadors.

Example Systems

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 100 including computing devices forperforming aspects of the present disclosure. The system 100 includesvarious client computing devices 160-167, 170-174 communicativelycoupled to a server computing device 110 through a network 150. Clientcomputing devices 160-167 may be associated with a particular entity105. For example, client device 160 may be associated with an owner ofthe entity 105, while devices 161-167 are selected to serve asambassadors for the entity 105, as described in further detail herein.Client devices 170-174 in this example represent users of the generalpublic. Requests, such as questions, reservations, etc. regarding theentity 105, may be received at the client devices 160-167 from clientdevices 170-174 through the network 150. In this regard, one of more ofthe client devices 160-167 associated with the entity 105 may receivethe requests and provide responses to the client devices 170-174 throughthe network 150.

The client computing devices 160-167, 170-174 may include any of avariety of types of devices capable of communicating over a network. Byway of example and not limitation, such devices may include smartphones, cameras with wireless network access, laptops, smartwatches,tablets, head-mounted displays, gaming systems, etc. Each clientcomputing device may include, for example, user input devices such ascameras, microphones, joysticks, buttons, touch screens, etc., as wellas a display, which could include, for instance, an LED, LCD, plasmascreen, projector, etc.

The server computing device 110 may actually include a plurality ofprocessing devices in communication with one another. The servercomputing device 110 is described in further detail in connection withFIG. 2 below.

Databases 140 may be accessible by the server 110 and client computingdevices 160-167, 170-174. The databases 140 may include, for example,information associated with entities, such as the entity 105. Suchinformation may include, for example, map information, inventoryinformation, imagery, etc. The imagery may in some instances be storedwith metadata providing information regarding the images. Such metadatamay include, for example, date and time of capture, location, camerasettings, labels or tags corresponding to objects within the images,etc.

The network 150 may be, for example, a LAN, WAN, the Internet, etc. Theconnections between devices and the network may be wired or wireless.

FIG. 2 illustrates further details of components in the example system100. It should not be considered as limiting the scope of the disclosureor usefulness of the features described herein. Each of the servercomputing devices 110 can contain one or more processors 220, memory 230and other components typically present in general purpose computingdevices. Memory 230 of each computing device 110 can store informationaccessible by the one or more processors 220, including instructions 234that can be executed by the one or more processors 220.

Memory 230 can also include data 232 that can be retrieved, manipulatedor stored by the processor. The memory can be of any non-transitory typecapable of storing information accessible by the processor, such as ahard-drive, memory card, ROM, RAM, DVD, CD-ROM, write-capable, andread-only memories.

The instructions 234 can be any set of instructions to be executeddirectly, such as machine code, or indirectly, such as scripts, by theone or more processors. In that regard, the terms “instructions,”“application,” “steps,” and “programs” can be used interchangeablyherein. The instructions can be stored in object code format for directprocessing by a processor, or in any other computing device languageincluding scripts or collections of independent source code modules thatare interpreted on demand or compiled in advance. Functions, methods,and routines of the instructions are explained in more detail below.

Data 232 may be retrieved, stored or modified by the one or moreprocessors 220 in accordance with the instructions 234. For instance,although the subject matter described herein is not limited by anyparticular data structure, the data can be stored in computer registers,in a relational database as a table having many different fields andrecords, or XML documents. The data can also be formatted in anycomputing device-readable format such as, but not limited to, binaryvalues, ASCII or Unicode. Moreover, the data can comprise anyinformation sufficient to identify the relevant information, such asnumbers, descriptive text, proprietary codes, pointers, references todata stored in other memories such as at other network locations, orinformation that is used by a function to calculate the relevant data.

The one or more processors 220 can be any conventional processors, suchas a commercially available CPU. Alternatively, the processors can bededicated components such as an application specific integrated circuit(“ASIC”) or other hardware-based processor. Although not necessary, oneor more of computing devices 110 may include specialized hardwarecomponents to perform specific computing processes, such as imagematching, image editing, object recognition, or performing otherprocesses faster or more efficiently.

Although FIG. 2 functionally illustrates the processor, memory, andother elements of computing device 110 as being within the same block,the processor, computer, computing device, or memory can actuallycomprise multiple processors, computers, computing devices, or memoriesthat may or may not be stored within the same physical housing. Forexample, the memory can be a hard drive or other storage media locatedin housings different from that of the computing devices 110.Accordingly, references to a processor, computer, computing device, ormemory will be understood to include references to a collection ofprocessors, computers, computing devices, or memories that may or maynot operate in parallel. For example, the computing devices 110 mayinclude server computing devices operating as a load-balanced serverfarm, distributed system, etc. Yet further, although some functionsdescribed below are indicated as taking place on a single computingdevice having a single processor, various aspects of the subject matterdescribed herein can be implemented by a plurality of computing devices,for example, communicating information over network 150.

Each of the computing devices 110, 160, 170 can be at different nodes ofa network 150 and capable of directly and indirectly communicating withother nodes of network 150. Although only a few computing devices aredepicted in FIG. 2, it should be appreciated that a typical system caninclude a large number of connected computing devices, with eachdifferent computing device being at a different node of the network 150.The network 150 and intervening nodes described herein can beinterconnected using various protocols and systems, such that thenetwork can be part of the Internet, World Wide Web, specific intranets,wide area networks, or local networks. The network can utilize standardcommunications protocols, such as Ethernet, WiFi and HTTP, protocolsthat are proprietary to one or more companies, and various combinationsof the foregoing. Although certain advantages are obtained wheninformation is transmitted or received as noted above, other aspects ofthe subject matter described herein are not limited to any particularmanner of transmission of information.

As an example, each of the computing devices 110 may include web serverscapable of communicating with storage system 140 as well as computingdevices 160, 170 via the network 150. For example, one or more of servercomputing devices 110 may use network 150 to transmit and presentinformation to a user on a display, such as display 265 of computingdevice 160. In this regard, computing devices 160, 170 may be consideredclient computing devices and may perform all or some of the featuresdescribed herein.

Each of the client computing devices 160, 170 may be configuredsimilarly to the server computing devices 110, with one or moreprocessors, memory and instructions as described above. Each clientcomputing device 160, 170 may be a personal computing device intendedfor use by a user, and have all of the components normally used inconnection with a personal computing device such as a processor 262,memory (e.g., RAM and internal hard drives) storing data 263 andinstructions 264, a display 265, and user input 266. The clientcomputing device may also include a camera 267 for recording videostreams and/or capturing images, speakers, a network interface device,and all of the components used for connecting these elements to oneanother. The client computing device 160 may also include a locationdetermination system, such as a GPS 268. Other examples of locationdetermination systems may determine location based on wireless accesssignal strength, images of geographic objects such as landmarks,semantic indicators such as light or noise level, etc.

Although the client computing devices 160, 170 may each comprise afull-sized personal computing device, they may alternatively comprisemobile computing devices capable of wirelessly exchanging data with aserver over a network such as the Internet. By way of example only,client computing device 160 may be a mobile phone or a device such as awireless-enabled PDA, a tablet PC, a netbook, a smart watch, ahead-mounted computing system, or any other device that is capable ofobtaining information via the Internet. As an example the user may inputinformation using a small keyboard, a keypad, microphone, using visualsignals with a camera, or a touch screen.

As with memory 230, storage system 140 can be of any type ofcomputerized storage capable of storing information accessible by theserver computing devices 110, such as a hard-drive, memory card, ROM,RAM, DVD, CD-ROM, write-capable, and read-only memories. In addition,storage system 140 may include a distributed storage system where datais stored on a plurality of different storage devices which may bephysically located at the same or different geographic locations.Storage system 140 may be connected to the computing devices via thenetwork 150 as shown in FIG. 1 and/or may be directly connected to anyof the computing devices 110.

Storage system 140 may store data, such images and other informationcorresponding to particular entities.

The one or more processors 220 may identify and select one or moreclient devices from the general population to serve as ambassadors forthe entity 105. For example, the one or more processors 220 may identifyand select devices automatically based on location informationassociated with the devices. Protections will be put in place to ensurethat user privacy remains protected. For example, users may be requiredto specifically authorize location reporting to be considered aspossible candidates to become an ambassador. Moreover, in some example,the users may be required to download a particular application or othersoftware, and agree to the terms of use, in addition to enablinglocation reporting. Users will be provided with the option to add orremove their devices from consideration for service as ambassadors atany time by, for example, setting a location reporting mode on thedevice to “off.” Additional provisions are made for further protectingprivacy and security. For example, additional provisions includeanonymization of personally identifiable information, aggregation ofdata, filtering of personal information, encryption, hashing orfiltering of personal information to remove personal attributes, timelimitations on storage of information, or limitations on data use orsharing. In addition to or instead of these automated privacy andsecurity measures, in some embodiments, some or all of the requests maybe reviewed manually.

Once a device has been selected for service as an ambassador, a requestto serve as an ambassador for a particular entity may be sent by the oneor more processors to the device for approval by the user. Uponaccepting the request, the user may serve as an unverified ambassador.In some instances, verification of the user may be requested by the useror the one or more processors, such that the user, if verified, may havebroader authority to respond to requests on behalf of the entity. Insuch an example, the user or the one or more processors may send averification request to an owner of the entity 105. The ambassadordevice may be required to approve the information included in theverification request. In some examples, the ambassador may be given theoption to edit, add, or remove any information included in theverification request.

A secure channel may be established between the ambassador devices161-167 and any of the client devices 170-174 requesting informationregarding the particular entity 105. In some examples, data sent overthe secure channel may in some instances be encrypted, and access to thesecure channel may be limited to users meeting predetermined criteria.The communication channel may be used to connect one user with oneambassador, multiple users with multiple ambassadors for the entity 105,multiple users with multiple ambassadors for multiple entities, or anycombination thereof. Additional protections may be implemented tofurther protect privacy of all users communicating over the channel orotherwise associated with the entity or general public. For example,requests to the ambassadors may be automatically or manually screened,such that requests for personal information or otherwise inappropriaterequests are filtered. In some instances, users submitting one ormultiple inappropriate requests may be blocked from further usage.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of selecting candidate devices to serve asambassadors for a particular entity 105. The entity 105 corresponds to aparticular geographic location, such as a physical address or geographiccoordinates where the entity 105 maintains a storefront, headquarters,warehouse, etc. A plurality of devices 310-321, each authorizinglocation reporting, may each report locations in a vicinity of theparticular geographic location corresponding to the entity 105. Forexample, each of the plurality of devices 310-321 may have reported atleast one location within a predetermined distance of the particulargeographic location within a given time period. Of these candidatedevices, however, only some may be selected as ambassadors. For example,selection may be based on frequency of visits to the particulargeographic location and/or an amount of time spent at the particulargeographic location during one or more visits. By way of example only,if the entity 105 is a coffee shop, the device 314 may have visited thecoffee shop once for approximately 20 minutes, while the device 315 mayvisit the coffee shop four days per week for approximately three hourseach visit. In this example, the device 315 is more likely to beselected as an ambassador, as a user of the device 315 is more likely tohave information regarding the coffee shop than a user of the device314. Other criteria for selecting ambassadors may include, for example,variation of visit times, variation of device type, or variation of anyof a variety of other types of information. Some other mechanisms forselecting ambassadors may include identifying users that have left areview of the entity, uploaded a photo related to the entity,contributed to information posted online regarding the entity, been anactive contributor for entities in a given geographical area or entitiesof a particular type, etc. In the example shown, devices 310, 315, and317 are selected to serve as ambassadors for the entity 105.

FIG. 4 illustrates example communications between the one or moreprocessors 110 and selected ambassador device 310, and between the oneor more processors 110 and device 160 belonging to an owner of theparticular entity. The one or more processors 110 sends a first request402 to the selected user device 310, for example, asking whether a userof the device 310 would like to be an ambassador for Business A.According to some examples, the device 310 may include an interfacewhich relays the first request 402 to the user, such as by presentingthe first request as text on a display 415. It should be understood thatthe interface illustrated in FIG. 4 is merely an example, and that anyof a variety of types of interfaces is possible.

The user of the device 310 may send a first response 404 back to the oneor more processors 110, for example through the interface. For example,the interface may include one or more response buttons 421, 422 forefficiently responding to the first request. In other examples,responses may be entered through other mechanisms, such as by typing,voice commands, etc. In this example, an option for the user to viewmore information regarding serving as an ambassador for the Business Ais presented as information button 423. Such additional information mayinclude, for example, an explanation of why the device 310 was selected,an explanation of requirements for serving as an ambassador, informationregarding the Business A, or any other information.

If the user of the device 310 agrees to serve as an ambassador, in someexamples a second request 406 may be sent from the one or moreprocessors 110 to device 160 belonging to the owner of Business A. Thesecond request 406 may ask whether the entity owner will verify the userdevice 310 as an ambassador. The second request may include, forexample, additional information, such as information related to thedevice 310, why the device 310 was selected, an operator of the device310, or any other information. Such information may be accessed by theentity owner by, for example, selecting interface button 443. Otheroptions for responding through the interface may include, for example,response buttons 441, 442. Similar to the interface presented on thedevice 310, it should be understood that many variations of theinterface and the input of responses are possible.

The entity owner may send a second response 408 indicating whether thedevice 310 is verified. If the device 310 is not verified, the device310 may still be authorized to serve as an ambassador for the BusinessA. However, the types of requests for which the device 310 may belimited if the device 310 is not verified, whereas verified devices mayhave broader access to view requests from users of the generalpopulation. The verified devices may additionally or alternatively havebroader authority to respond to requests without oversight from theentity owner or another entity.

Once a user of a selected client device agrees to serve as anambassador, the selected client device may provide information regardingthe particular entity to an information site, such as a search engineresults page associated with the particular entity, or directly to userdevices in the general public. In either case, the entity owner may beable to oversee the communications sent on behalf of the particularentity, and in some instances edit the communications before they aresent. Further, the entity owner may receive a report of the requestsreceived over the communication channel and the responses provided. Suchreport may guide the entity owner as to what types of information to addto its website or other marketing materials.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of ambassador devices submittinginformation to an entity, such as an information site. For example,search engine results listing 505 includes a map section 510 and aninformational section 520. The listing 505 may be displayed, for exampleon a client device, in response to a request for information related toBusiness A. The request for information may include, for example, anaddress, entity name, general geographical area, type of entity, etc.

The map section 510 may include a depiction of geographical objects at aparticular geographic location. For example, the geographic objects mayinclude roads, buildings, landmarks, statues, street signs, etc. Theobjects may be depicted in, for example, a roadgraph, aerial imagery,street level imagery, or the like. The map section 510 may also depict amarker 512 corresponding to a requested location, such as Business A.The marker 512 identifies where the requested location is located withrespect to other objects depicted in the map section. The marker 512 maybe depicted in any of a variety of shapes and forms. Further, a label514 may identify that the marker 512 corresponds to Business A.

Informational section 520 provides further information related to theBusiness A. Such information may include user input controls 522, 524,526, enabling the user to take a predetermined action. The predeterminedaction may be, for example, calling a phone number for the Business A,requesting navigational information to the Business A, or submitting arequest to the Business A. Examples of such requests may be questionsrelated to hours of operation, questions related to price oravailability of products or services, requests to reserve a product orservice, or any other types of requests. Such requests may be sent toone or more of the ambassador devices 310, 315, 317, which may provide aresponse. The response may be provided directly to the requestor,displayed in the informational section 520 or elsewhere in the listing505, or both.

The informational section 520 may also include text 528, such as alisting of the operating hours of the Business A. In the example of FIG.5, the text information 528 is incomplete, as the hours of operation arenot listed. Accordingly, the ambassador devices 310, 315, 317 mayprovide responses including the missing information. The ambassadordevices 310, 315, 317 may be verified or unverified.

According to some examples, the information supplied by the ambassadordevices may be automatically detected by the ambassador devices. Forexample, information regarding the operating hours of the entity may bedetermined based on times when ambassador devices appear at the locationand disappear from the location.

Prior to the responses being used to generate an updated listing 555,the entity owner for the Business A may review the submitted responses.For example, the responses may be sent to the user device 160 belongingto the entity owner, either individually or as a batch. The owner mayreview the submitted responses, and approve, reject, edit, or otherwisemanipulate the information. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the ownermay approve the responses from the devices 310, 317, but reject theresponse from the device 315. This may be because the response from thedevice 315 is incorrect, incomplete, or otherwise inaccurate. Theresponses from the devices 310, 317, however, may be wholly or partlyaccurate and therefore approved. By way of example only, the device 310may submit the operating hours for the entity A for Monday throughSaturday, while the device 317 submits the operating hours for theBusiness A for Sundays. Such information is shown in text 558 for theupdated listing 555. However, it should be understood that the submittedinformation may be shown anywhere in the listing 555, or in any form(e.g., text, graphs, charts, ratings, etc.) in any type of informationsite or application. While in the examples described above the submittedinformation is approved before updating the information site, in otherexamples the submitted information may be approved afterwards, and theupdated site may be updated again if needed.

In other examples, only verified devices may be permitted to submitinformation to update the information site, or unverified submissionsmay be automatically rejected. The permissions for the verified devicesas compared to the unverified devices may depend on a type ofinformation submitted, a destination for the submitted information, orany other parameters. For example, verified devices may be permitted tosubmit information such as operating hours, while unverified devices maybe permitted to submit information such as a current wait time at theentity. While FIG. 5 shows the information as being provided to a searchresult listing, in other examples the information may be provided toother applications, such as scheduling applications, ride-serviceapplications, games, or any of a variety of other applications.

FIG. 6 illustrates another example, where requests are received fromuser devices in the general public, and responses are provided by one ormore ambassador devices directly to the user device. In this example,user device 172 submits a request 602, such as “Do you sell lotterytickets?” to the entity 105. The request may be received by one or moreselected ambassador devices, categories of ambassador devices (e.g.,verified or unverified), or all the ambassador devices 161-167. Forexample, the request 602 may be automatically parsed at a server todetermine which ambassador devices should receive the request. Thedetermination may include, for example, identifying particular keywordsor key phrases in the request, and identifying particular ambassadordevices designated to receive requests including the identified keywordsor key phrases. As another example, ambassadors may be selected toreceive the request based on other information, such as a currentlocation of the ambassador devices. For example, if the request seeks acurrent wait time at the entity, an ambassador device currently at theentity may be selected to receive the request. In some examples, therequest may be received by all the ambassadors 161-167 for a particularentity simultaneously. In other examples, the requests may be sent to aselected subset of the ambassadors for a particular entity. For example,a round-robin type algorithm may be used to rotate across whichambassadors receive requests to keep a balance, or ambassadors withfaster response rates may be prioritized.

Any one of the ambassador devices 161-167 may send a response 604 onbehalf of the entity. For example, the response 604 may be “Yes, we selllottery tickets” or the response 604 may specify for which lottery gamesthe entity 105 sells tickets. According to some examples, once a firstambassador device sends the response 604, the remaining ambassadordevices may be notified that the request 602 has been answered. By wayof example only, an interface on the ambassador devices prompting aresponse may disappear. According to some examples, if the response 604is provided by an unverified ambassador 164-167, the response may bereviewed and approved by a verified ambassador 161-163 prior totransmission to the client device 172. The verified ambassador may havebeen approved by an owner of the entity. The unverified ambassador maybe self-elected based on the ambassador's own actions.

According to some examples, the information supplied by the ambassadordevices may be automatically detected by the ambassador devices. Forexample, detection of products available may be performed based ondetection of RFID tags, or detection of whether a restaurant is servinglunch or dinner may be determined based on a detected level of lightingat the restaurant. In other examples, automatically detected informationmay include information about current network or environmentalconditions. In some examples, ambassador devices may provide responsesto enquiries relating to such information automatically, optionallywithout engaging the ambassador.

While only one entity 105 is illustrated in the example of FIG. 6, inother examples the user device 172 may communicate a request to multipleentity at a given time. For example, the request 602 may be transmittedto ambassadors for a plurality of different entities within apredetermined geographic area or distance from the client device 172. Inthis regard, the client device 172 may receive multiple responses, whicha user of the client device 172 can compare. For example, a responsesent on behalf of an ambassador for each entity may be presented on theclient device 172 along with information associated with that entity,such as the entity name, address, phone number, etc.

The entity owner for each entity may receive reports related to theinformation sent over the communication channel. For example, the reportmay identify each of the requests received, indicating what wasrequested, a date and time of the request, a frequency of repetition ofthe request, or a plethora of other information. For example, such otherinformation may include a response time for each ambassador, anidentification of highest ranked contributors, information thatidentifies a particularly effective unverified ambassador, etc. However,to maintain privacy, information related to the client devices fromwhich requests were received, or users of such client devices, isomitted from the report or anonymized. The information in the report mayprovide the entity owner with an opportunity to understand the types ofinformation that customers are seeking, and to adapt the entity oradvertising for the entity to accommodate such requests.

Example Methods

In addition to the operations described above and illustrated in thefigures, various operations will now be described. It should beunderstood that the following operations do not have to be performed inthe precise order described below. Rather, various steps can be handledin a different order or simultaneously, and steps may also be added oromitted.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example method 700 of establishing a communicationchannel between at least one user and at least one entity usingambassadors. The method may be performed by, for example, a remoteserver or other computing device. The method may or may not be initiatedby a request for information about an entity from a user.

In block 710, location information is received from a plurality ofmobile computing devices that authorize location reporting. For example,mobile devices may be set to provide their location, and thereby beconsidered as potential candidates to serve as ambassadors. The settingmay be changed by the user at any time. In other examples, the user maydownload an application to the mobile device for serving as a entityambassador. The application may ask the user to agree, such as through aterms of service agreement, that location reporting is authorized.

In block 720, individuals are identified, wherein the individualscorrespond to a particular entity. The individuals may be identifiedbased on the received location information. For example, if a mobiledevice visited the particular entity one or more times within apredetermined time period, the mobile device may be identified as apotential candidate for serving as an ambassador. Alternatively oradditionally, potential candidates for serving as an ambassador may beidentified based on current location information. The individuals neednot be existing employees or have other preexisting relationships withthe entity to be identified as a candidate ambassador.

In block 730, one or more of the identified individuals are selected toserve as an ambassador for the particular entity. For example, theindividuals may be selected based on any of a variety of criteria, suchas amount of time spent at the entity, number or frequency of visits tothe entity, randomly, etc. The selected individuals may receive arequest to serve as an ambassador, which they can accept through themobile device. Some ambassadors may be verified by an owner of theentity. Such verified ambassadors may be able to perform a wider rangeof activities on behalf of the entity.

In block 740, a communication channel is established between theselected ambassadors and a plurality of users, such as users in thegeneral public. The users and ambassadors may exchange informationregarding the entity over the communication channel. For example, theusers may request information regarding the entity, such as product orservice price or availability, or requests to reserve a product orservice. Users may also request technical information identifiable bythe mobile communication devices associated with the ambassadors, suchas current environmental or network conditions. For example, a user maywish to know whether an entity provides a Wi-Fi connection or may wishto know the temperature in the vicinity of the entity. The ambassadorsmay provide responses on behalf of the entity, thereby reducing a burdenon the entity owner and reducing a likely delay in response time.Responses may be provided through the action of the individuals servingas ambassadors or automatically by the mobile communication devicesassociated with the ambassadors. Any number of ambassadors may beselected for a particular entity, and the number of ambassadors may bedetermined by the entity owner. As the number of ambassadors selectedincreases, and the number of ambassadors who will likely see a requestand be able to quickly respond therefore increases, a response time foreach request likely decreases. The communication channel may be a securechannel, where access to the channel is limited to authorized orregistered users.

The foregoing examples are advantageous at least in that they provide amechanism for user to quickly receive and compare types of informationthat may not be available on a typical website. Moreover, the techniquesdescribed herein provide for communication with a entity that does nothave a website. Using such techniques, information regarding a entitycan be updated frequently, thereby providing for an improved userexperience.

Unless otherwise stated, the foregoing alternative examples are notmutually exclusive, but may be implemented in various combinations toachieve unique advantages. As these and other variations andcombinations of the features discussed above can be utilized withoutdeparting from the subject matter defined by the claims, the foregoingdescription of the embodiments should be taken by way of illustrationrather than by way of limitation of the subject matter defined by theclaims. In addition, the provision of the examples described herein, aswell as clauses phrased as “such as,” “including” and the like, shouldnot be interpreted as limiting the subject matter of the claims to thespecific examples; rather, the examples are intended to illustrate onlyone of many possible embodiments. Further, the same reference numbers indifferent drawings can identify the same or similar elements.

1. A computer-implemented method, method comprising: receiving a requestfrom a client device for information relating to an entity; receivinglocation information from a plurality of mobile communication devices,wherein each of the mobile computing devices have been set to authorizereporting of location information; identifying, based on the receivedlocation information, one or more mobile communication devices inproximity to the entity; selecting one of the identified one or moremobile communication devices; transmitting a request to the selected oneof the identified one or more mobile communication devices to serve asan ambassador for the entity; receiving, by one or more processors,confirmation from the selected one of the identified one or morecommunication devices; and enabling communication by the selected one ofthe one or more communication devices on behalf of the entity.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising verifying the selected mobilecommunication device as an ambassador for the entity.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, wherein verifying the selected mobile communication devicecomprises receiving authorization from an owner of the entity for theselected mobile communication device to communicate on behalf of theentity.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing acommunication channel between the client device and the selected one ofthe one or more communication devices.
 5. The method of claim 4, furthercomprising providing access to the communication channel to the owner ofthe entity.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising enabling theowner to correct information provided over the communication channel. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the one of the one or moremobile communication devices is at least partly based on device settingsconfigured by a user of the selected mobile device enabling the selectedmobile device to be considered for selection.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the information regarding the entity is automatically detectedby the one or more mobile communication devices.
 9. A system,comprising: memory; and one or more processors in communication with thememory, the one or more processors configured to: receive a request froma client device for information relating to an entity; receive locationinformation from a plurality of mobile communication devices, whereineach of the mobile computing devices have been set to authorizereporting of location information; identify, based on the receivedlocation information, one or more mobile communication devices inproximity to the entity; select one of the identified one or more mobilecommunication devices; transmit a request to the selected one of theidentified one or more mobile communication devices to serve as anambassador for the entity; receive confirmation from the selected one ofthe identified one or more communication devices; and enablecommunication by the selected one of the one or more communicationdevices on behalf of the entity.
 10. The system of claim 9, furthercomprising verifying the selected mobile communication device as anambassador for the entity.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein verifyingthe selected mobile communication device comprises receivingauthorization from an owner of the entity for the selected mobilecommunication device to communicate on behalf of the entity.
 12. Thesystem of claim 9, further comprising establishing a communicationchannel between the client device and the selected one of the one ormore communication devices.
 13. The system of claim 12, furthercomprising providing access to the communication channel to the owner ofthe entity.
 14. The system of claim 13, further comprising enabling theowner to correct information provided over the communication channel.15. The system of claim 9, wherein selecting the one of the one or moremobile communication devices is at least partly based on device settingsconfigured by a user of the selected mobile device enabling the selectedmobile device to be considered for selection.
 16. The system of claim 9,wherein the information regarding the entity is automatically detectedby the one or more mobile communication devices.
 17. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing instructions executable by one or moreprocessors for performing a method, comprising: receiving a request froma client device for information relating to an entity; receivinglocation information from a plurality of mobile communication devices,wherein each of the mobile computing devices have been set to authorizereporting of location information; identifying, based on the receivedlocation information, one or more mobile communication devices inproximity to the entity; selecting one of the identified one or moremobile communication devices; transmitting a request to the selected oneof the identified one or more mobile communication devices to serve asan ambassador for the entity; receiving confirmation from the selectedone of the identified one or more communication devices; and enablingcommunication by the selected one of the one or more communicationdevices on behalf of the entity.
 18. The method of claim 17, furthercomprising verifying the selected mobile communication device as anambassador for the entity.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein verifyingthe selected mobile communication device comprises receivingauthorization from an owner of the entity for the selected mobilecommunication device to communicate on behalf of the entity.
 20. Themethod of claim 17, further comprising establishing a communicationchannel between the client device and the selected one of the one ormore communication devices.